"The Wombat is a Joy, a Triumph, a Delight, a Madness!" ~ Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Medieval Simpsons

Thanks to Gene, I got to see the latest Simpsons which aired Sunday. While most of the excitement on line seems to be about the Wiggum '08 campaign, I was thrilled by the couch gag, which referenced the Bayeux Tapestry. This 11th century tapestry tells the tale of William of Normandy's defeat of Harold in 1066 at the battle of Hastings, which spelled the end of the Anglo-Saxon era and the beginning of the infusion of French language and culture that changed the tongue to Middle English (the language of Chaucer and the Gawain-poet). Some of the images follow below (tip o' the hat to Gene):

8 comments:

LOL -- indeed it is. I am mulling over how one might read it (even as I try to quash my irritation over the superfluous colons in the first two panels [although extra colons in the Simpsons' world are probably useful]). If the original holders are the Anglo-Saxons, then this story returns ownership to them, so perhaps a piece of pro-Saxon propaganda...

thank you thank you so much for these images! i teach an intro to world art course, and i'm teaching the bayeux tapestry tonight, and i have been looking for images since i saw the ep myself last sunday!